Urbanization, immigration and climate change are all reshaping the world, and WSP is well-poised to build for it, according to CEO and President Alexandre L’Heureux.
In a third quarter earnings call Nov. 7, he said the firm’s four core markets — transportation and infrastructure; property and buildings; earth and environment; and energy, resources and industry — are all healthy, and continue to reflect and respond to macro trends “such as decarbonization, energy transition, aging infrastructure and urbanization, to name a few.”
Leaders of the Montreal-headquartered mega contractor seemed sanguine about the results of the U.S. presidential election.
“We’ve done well under both administrations and we do not expect things to be different this time,” WSP CFO Alain Michaud said on the call.
Unlike other firms, L’Heureux said WSP did not see any slowdown in U.S. work ahead of the election, and he feels “comfortable that we’re going to maneuver very well” with the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act under Trump.
“I highly doubt [the IRA] will be dismantled. There will be a reassignment and the IRA may be reshaped, so we don’t know how fine the scalpel will be and actually we don’t even know how that’s going to happen,” L’Heureux said. “If you ask me where I see a change, it’s more around [United States Agency for International Development] work. I really believe that could have an impact.”
Q3 numbers
WSP reported revenues of CA$3.98 billion ($2.87 billion USD) in the third quarter, up 10.7% from CA$3.6 billion in Q3 2023. Its profits grew to CA$203.6 million in Q3 2024, a 30.3% jump from the same period last year.
L’Heureux attributed the results to an increase in net revenue and organic growth, particularly in the Americas and Canada; efficiencies from WSP’s new ERP platform; and greater free cash flow.
Backlog stood at CA$14.8 billion, a 3.9% increase from Q3 2023. WSP’s board of directors also declared a dividend of $0.375 per share, payable in January 2025 to shareholders of record.
This report closes out WSP’s three-year strategic cycle, in which it made 15 acquisitions and added about 20,000 people to its headcount. Most recently, the firm bought Hailey, Idaho-based Power Engineers in August for $1.78 billion.
More acquisitions on the horizon
L’Heureux signaled the firm intends to continue its buying spree, saying he’s “highly confident” that WSP will find more acquisitions in the next three years.
Clients want multidisciplinary services, especially on large projects, L’Heureux said, and with the support of its ERP platform, WSP’s workforce can be remobilized to jobs and markets around the world. He sees more opportunity to consolidate the building space, particularly in the U.S. and Europe.
“The heart and blood of a company is organic growth, and I always view M&A as a cherry on the cake. But you know, the underlying recipe of your cake has to be good,” L’Heureux said. “The growth of WSP has not been pushed up on steroids, obviously. I think the demand for our services has grown because the trends fueling our industries are real.”
The company also announced an upcoming C-suite move: Mark Naysmith, current President and CEO of Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, has been appointed global COO, effective January 2025.
Environment, data centers, supply chain still hot
Water is still seeing increased investment globally, according to L’Heureux, and demand for services to drive the green transition is strong across all regions.
“These services include, among others, environmental baseline studies, permitting, site selection, corridor optimization and geotechnical and biodiversity activities, all of which are highly strategic to any project,” L’Heureux said.
Transportation and infrastructure remain the company’s largest end market, per L’Heureux, and the aviation and maritime sectors continue to be resilient as countries around the world invest in improving global logistics. Manufacturing is also thriving as corporations and countries focus on buffering their supply chains.
“This investment cycle is expected to continue as the global supply chain readjusts to the new post-pandemic reality,” L’Heureux said.
Finally, data center work continues to boom.
“Hyperscalers are spending anything between $18 to $19 billion a quarter growing the data center market. They’re opening one data center every other day,” L’Heureux said. Thanks to the Power Engineers purchase, he said WSP will now be able to connect those data centers to the grid.
